Ender's Game Trailer is Finally Here

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Perhaps the greater stumbling block will be the Ender's Game author himself, Orson Scott Card, who's earned a rather ugly reputation for his staunch - some would say fanatical - opposition to marriage equality. Card's planned participation in a Superman comic was "put on hold" by DC Comics earlier this year after the artist on the book canceled [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122519-Artist-Quits-Superman-Book-Over-Orson-Scott-Card-Furor] at the urging of Epic Games. Card is serving as producer on the film, which could (and almost certainly will) lead to some degree of backlash.

You know what though? I think this is thoroughly disgusting....on the part of the DC artist and Epic Games. I don't agree with Card's opinion, but he damn well has the right to it. As soon as DC and Epic cancelled those things, they brought politics into places where it doesn't belong and disrespected a man's right to his opinion.

So it's okay to watch Mel Gibson films when he's one of the vilest racists and anti-semites in Hollywood? It's okay to buy Tommy Hilfiger clothes when he said on TV "I would never have made them if I knew blacks or asians would wear them"? It's okay to wear Abercrombie and Fitch though they are a vile company [http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/]? It's okay for Fox News to broadcast their right-wing, completely biased sensationalist bullshit where truth is only used if it suits their agenda?

Seriously disappointed in Epic and DC for that.

 

[Timmey]

...So is this related to Zone of the Enders?



Okay in all seriousness, I had never heard of that novel until the whole 'author against gay marriage' controversy.



And this trailer...looks fricking horrible. Wtf is up with Ben Kingsley's face? He looks like the Indian guy from the Streetfighter movie. Besides, these days I don't trust anything with Harrison Ford in it.

He plays Mazer Rackham, who is from New Zealand and a Maori. Mentioned in the book.

 

[axlryder]

... but I have no intentions of putting money in the pockets of a bigot if I can avoid it.

Meh, people need to grow up. Your opinion of a man should not influence your opinion of a man's work. Looks interesting enough. Truth be told, I never found OSC all that interesting of a writer. Probably something to do with people always telling me I should like his work.

I would tend to agree. Can a piece of work not be viewed for it's own sake without a prejudgment?

I'm sure an artist would appreciate the effort.

... but I have no intentions of putting money in the pockets of a bigot if I can avoid it.

*sigh*

Captcha=right left

Oh. You are on fire today Captcha,

Art is the expression of the artist. If you want to call something art, you then cannot separate the art from the artist.

No matter the content of that artist?

On that note, literature is not art.

?!?
Really?

I think there are quite afew authors who would disagree with you immensely.

But when the Author then centers his works around his beliefs, that is where problems arise.
Ender's Game does not center around OSC's offensive beliefs, but a lot of his other books do.

So you ARE able to seperate a peice of work from the artist. Or is it content creator? :?

Then those authors are delusional, literature is educational and/or entertainment. Movies are not art, video games are not art. Does not mean these things can not be so good that people can compare them to art, still does not make them art.

What definition of art are you using? Literature and movies have been considered art for a very very long time.

EDIT: Not to mention the "Video games are not art" can of worms. How are any of those things not art?

Artistic =/= art.

Books, movies, and video games are meant to be entertainment sold to the vast public, that is why they exist. That kind of automatically disqualifies them as art.

Such utter nonsense. The Sistine Chapel's ceiling was a commission piece done for the church (the iconography contained within intended to convey Biblical stories). Norman Rockwell was paid to do all those covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Great works of art have often been done for money/mass consumption.

Trailer looks bad, btw. It appears as though they've played down the psychodrama in favor of generic action sci-fi. Not necessarily damning though, given the fact that a trailer like this is probably more likely to get asses in the seats than a trailer of people talking for 2 minutes.

The Sistine Chapel was commissioned, it was open to the public, it's function was to inspire. I am fairly certain people did not have to purchase entrance into the chapel.

Great you brought up Norman Rockwell; similar to Monet's postcards, Rockwell's magazine covers are debatable in whether or not they can be considered works of art. Monet and Rockwell used their commercial success to fund actual artwork though, so I can give them some leeway in this regards. Strange how Andy Warhol doing similar things to Rockwell automatically became graphic design when it was for commercial use, held in separate regard to his pop art projects.

Did you not see the part about the religious iconography designed to inform the masses of biblical teachings in visual form? It was at least partly for education. To try and discriminate between that and other works of art done for education just comes off as a ridiculous double standard. Whether or not something was done for money, created with a purpose in mind, or costs money to view simply aren't qualifiers for "art". Even the concept of qualifiers based on whether it is done for commission or for commercial distribution is silly. The client will often have influence over their work, even if it is only establishing premises/sizes/etc. Often times commercial work will have the exact same limitations on the artist, and the artist will put about as much consideration into the fact that the art will be sold to others as they put into the fact that they're selling it to someone else. These are conditional variables under which that art was created, not conditions for qualifying the art itself. Trying to sift through various artists and their work and determine what is and isn't art based on such shaky parameters just leaves you with all sorts of contradictions and gray areas. I've seen vast amounts of passion and creativity put into commericial work, my own work included, and very hollow drawings done for personal purposes.

No one cares if you're willing to give Rockwell some "leeway", since the SEP covers are universally considered great works of art. I've yet to see someone say they aren't, and if you want to source someone who might contest it then feel free to do so. Graphic design itself was NOT considered "not art", it's a sub-categorization. Hell, Warhol himself is a good example of how much of his work was done on a seemingly hollow commercial level, when in cases it may have been designed to elucidate/encapsulate the highly manufactured and superficial nature of American culture. In shilling his passionless work, he was making a statement, thus enhancing its artistic authenticity. Yet you might class it as commercial non-art simply because it was sold.

 

[dakkster]

Then those authors are delusional, literature is educational and/or entertainment. Movies are not art, video games are not art. Does not mean these things can not be so good that people can compare them to art, still does not make them art.

Yeah, you're simply dead wrong here. Nothing else to it. Move along.

 

[dakkster]

Sigh, look at it this way, movies/books/video games are products.

You being all high and mighty about this doesn't make your point stronger. Everything that has ever been considered art in human society has been a product. You seem to like definitions. Look up the definition for the word product. Something that is produced. Something that is created. It is artificial. Art is created and artificial. Its purpose is to convey or induce different emotions or experiences.

You are wrong.

 

[wolf thing]

Perhaps the greater stumbling block will be the Ender's Game author himself, Orson Scott Card, who's earned a rather ugly reputation for his staunch - some would say fanatical - opposition to marriage equality. Card's planned participation in a Superman comic was "put on hold" by DC Comics earlier this year after the artist on the book canceled [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122519-Artist-Quits-Superman-Book-Over-Orson-Scott-Card-Furor] at the urging of Epic Games. Card is serving as producer on the film, which could (and almost certainly will) lead to some degree of backlash.

You know what though? I think this is thoroughly disgusting....on the part of the DC artist and Epic Games. I don't agree with Card's opinion, but he damn well has the right to it. As soon as DC and Epic cancelled those things, they brought politics into places where it doesn't belong and disrespected a man's right to his opinion.

So it's okay to watch Mel Gibson films when he's one of the vilest racists and anti-semites in Hollywood? It's okay to buy Tommy Hilfiger clothes when he said on TV "I would never have made them if I knew blacks or asians would wear them"? It's okay to wear Abercrombie and Fitch though they are a vile company [http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/]? It's okay for Fox News to broadcast their right-wing, completely biased sensationalist bullshit where truth is only used if it suits their agenda?

Seriously disappointed in Epic and DC for that.

well DC and epic have a right to their opinions, if they feel that working with a certain author will put across a message they do not want for company there well with in there rights not to work with them, it is goo that the DC artist refused to work with card, standing up for what you believe in usually a good thing and it what card does all the time, you seem to be okay with card having an opinion so why not the artist. as for epic game if they started to make the game and then backout sure thats in poor tasted but you can bash them for having there own opinions, i dont know any of the details but working with such a homophobic author could have caused argument in the company and you could be sure that it would effect the game sales.

right work boths way if card is alowed to be homophobic then people are alowed to not work with him, he does nit just dislike the gays he active works against them using using his money to fund movements which try to reduce there right, threatans the American government with violance if the gay are allowed to be marride and not to mention all the essay he has written about the evils of homosexuality.

what i find destructing is that people think its okay for card to try and oppress a group of people but not okay for people to call him wrong

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

... but I have no intentions of putting money in the pockets of a bigot if I can avoid it.

Meh, people need to grow up. Your opinion of a man should not influence your opinion of a man's work. Looks interesting enough. Truth be told, I never found OSC all that interesting of a writer. Probably something to do with people always telling me I should like his work.

I would tend to agree. Can a piece of work not be viewed for it's own sake without a prejudgment?

I'm sure an artist would appreciate the effort.

... but I have no intentions of putting money in the pockets of a bigot if I can avoid it.

*sigh*

Captcha=right left

Oh. You are on fire today Captcha,

Art is the expression of the artist. If you want to call something art, you then cannot separate the art from the artist.

No matter the content of that artist?

On that note, literature is not art.

?!?
Really?

I think there are quite afew authors who would disagree with you immensely.

But when the Author then centers his works around his beliefs, that is where problems arise.
Ender's Game does not center around OSC's offensive beliefs, but a lot of his other books do.

So you ARE able to seperate a peice of work from the artist. Or is it content creator? :?

Then those authors are delusional, literature is educational and/or entertainment. Movies are not art, video games are not art. Does not mean these things can not be so good that people can compare them to art, still does not make them art.

What definition of art are you using? Literature and movies have been considered art for a very very long time.

EDIT: Not to mention the "Video games are not art" can of worms. How are any of those things not art?

Artistic =/= art.

Books, movies, and video games are meant to be entertainment sold to the vast public, that is why they exist. That kind of automatically disqualifies them as art.

Such utter nonsense. The Sistine Chapel's ceiling was a commission piece done for the church (the iconography contained within intended to convey Biblical stories). Norman Rockwell was paid to do all those covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Great works of art have often been done for money/mass consumption.

Trailer looks bad, btw. It appears as though they've played down the psychodrama in favor of generic action sci-fi. Not necessarily damning though, given the fact that a trailer like this is probably more likely to get asses in the seats than a trailer of people talking for 2 minutes.

The Sistine Chapel was commissioned, it was open to the public, it's function was to inspire. I am fairly certain people did not have to purchase entrance into the chapel.

Great you brought up Norman Rockwell; similar to Monet's postcards, Rockwell's magazine covers are debatable in whether or not they can be considered works of art. Monet and Rockwell used their commercial success to fund actual artwork though, so I can give them some leeway in this regards. Strange how Andy Warhol doing similar things to Rockwell automatically became graphic design when it was for commercial use, held in separate regard to his pop art projects.

I'm sorry, but you don't know much about art or the Renaissance. Art was commissioned and directed in part by the commissioner, which by your definition means that almost no art was produced in the Renaissance. Or the Medieval period. Or the Greco-Roman period. Or any time before the modern period, for that matter. It's an extremely elitist and narrow definition that makes almost nothing art.

 

[MagunBFP]

well DC and epic have a right to their opinions, if they feel that working with a certain author will put across a message they do not want for company there well with in there rights not to work with them, it is goo that the DC artist refused to work with card, standing up for what you believe in usually a good thing and it what card does all the time, you seem to be okay with card having an opinion so why not the artist. as for epic game if they started to make the game and then backout sure thats in poor tasted but you can bash them for having there own opinions, i dont know any of the details but working with such a homophobic author could have caused argument in the company and you could be sure that it would effect the game sales.

right work boths way if card is alowed to be homophobic then people are alowed to not work with him, he does nit just dislike the gays he active works against them using using his money to fund movements which try to reduce there right, threatans the American government with violance if the gay are allowed to be marride and not to mention all the essay he has written about the evils of homosexuality.

what i find destructing is that people think its okay for card to try and oppress a group of people but not okay for people to call him wrong

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion, and unlikely many other people Card is actually backing up his opinions with action. That he is wrong or right is besides the point, he knows that his god has said the homosexuality is wrong, just like many of us know that abortion is wrong because it's murder, or its not wrong because it should be a woman's choice. When it comes to a question of moral right, there's no correct answer just the current socially popular one.

As for using the pathetic excuse of "working with such a homophobic author could have caused an argument in the company" whatever happened to being professional at work and leaving your personal issues at home?

Personally I think Card is an great author and Enders Game is the only book that I have literally read to destruction and had to replace. I also think Card is an idiot because his arguement against homosexuality is based on god and I heap upon him the same scorn I heap on any other bible bashing person who avoids reality by allowing a supernatural being to determine right from wrong, but god damn if Enders Game isn't an awesome book.

OT: I'm ashamed to say I'm going to watch this movie because it's called Enders Game, and I might actually enjoy it, but from that trailer it looks nothing like the story in the book. If we're lucky it will become the next Starship Troopers, awesome book, pretty cool movie but only barely the same story.

 

[SecondPrize]

Meh, people need to grow up. Your opinion of a man should not influence your opinion of a man's work. Looks interesting enough. Truth be told, I never found OSC all that interesting of a writer. Probably something to do with people always telling me I should like his work.

It doesn't. It does, however, influence whether i'll support his work by purchasing a ticket for it.

 

[Alcaste]

Meh, people need to grow up. Your opinion of a man should not influence your opinion of a man's work. Looks interesting enough. Truth be told, I never found OSC all that interesting of a writer. Probably something to do with people always telling me I should like his work.

Except when supporting that man's work directly supports his beliefs. THEN you should care.

I never really liked him. I read Ender's Game as a kid and it didn't interest me very much. Not enough to read any of the other books, anyway.

 

[wolf thing]

well DC and epic have a right to their opinions, if they feel that working with a certain author will put across a message they do not want for company there well with in there rights not to work with them, it is goo that the DC artist refused to work with card, standing up for what you believe in usually a good thing and it what card does all the time, you seem to be okay with card having an opinion so why not the artist. as for epic game if they started to make the game and then backout sure thats in poor tasted but you can bash them for having there own opinions, i dont know any of the details but working with such a homophobic author could have caused argument in the company and you could be sure that it would effect the game sales.

right work boths way if card is alowed to be homophobic then people are alowed to not work with him, he does nit just dislike the gays he active works against them using using his money to fund movements which try to reduce there right, threatans the American government with violance if the gay are allowed to be marride and not to mention all the essay he has written about the evils of homosexuality.

what i find destructing is that people think its okay for card to try and oppress a group of people but not okay for people to call him wrong

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion, and unlikely many other people Card is actually backing up his opinions with action. That he is wrong or right is besides the point, he knows that his god has said the homosexuality is wrong, just like many of us know that abortion is wrong because it's murder, or its not wrong because it should be a woman's choice. When it comes to a question of moral right, there's no correct answer just the current socially popular one.

As for using the pathetic excuse of "working with such a homophobic author could have caused an argument in the company" whatever happened to being professional at work and leaving your personal issues at home?

Personally I think Card is an great author and Enders Game is the only book that I have literally read to destruction and had to replace. I also think Card is an idiot because his arguement against homosexuality is based on god and I heap upon him the same scorn I heap on any other bible bashing person who avoids reality by allowing a supernatural being to determine right from wrong, but god damn if Enders Game isn't an awesome book.

OT: I'm ashamed to say I'm going to watch this movie because it's called Enders Game, and I might actually enjoy it, but from that trailer it looks nothing like the story in the book. If we're lucky it will become the next Starship Troopers, awesome book, pretty cool movie but only barely the same story.

i agree card is a great writer and edners game is a great book. i dont think you can say card is right, sure it his opinion but trying to control people because there doing some you dislike but doesnt effect you is a horrible thing to do, but thats a much bigger issue i am a totally ill prepared.

as for profession work place, you may be right that people should leave their opinions at the door when entering a place of work but that doesn't mean they do and they dont. i feel getting people who dont get on and when card is so out spocken to work together it could be to the determent to the work, not to mention uncomfortable for both sides. i should also mention that they all work in the creative industry and i feel art works best when the creator put them self into the peaces and use there opinions (altho card does not have any homophobic stuff in enders game, he other book i am unsure) to shape there work, many book are repetitive of their author after all, so there could be a high chance that card opinions and other as this is a wide spread topic could state to effect the work which is okay while working alone but with other it could be come unpleasant.

 

[crowbar520]

From what I can tell from this trailer, they might not save the big reveal at end of the book for the end of the movie. It looks like they might drop it earlier, just to artificially raise the stakes. (If you haven't read the book, and have no idea what I'm talking about; read the book ASAP, it's awesome.)

 

[RA92]

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion, and unlikely many other people Card is actually backing up his opinions with action.

And Epic was backing up their opinion of him with the action of not working with him.

Case closed.

 

[tahrey]

I will probably go to see this - I love the book, and as long as it doesnt go too Michael Bay it shouldnt be awful...although that said, it annoys me that

Spoiler

boobies

Lets hope that OSC keeps as far away from it as possible.

Bugger, shit, damn. I've got so used to people putting videos and random pictures behind "spoiler" bars that I clicked on that without thinking.

Yes, I'd somehow managed to avoid spoiling the ending (OR reading the book 9_9) until now...

Maybe we need to start putting "WARNING: ACTUAL SPOILERS BELOW" before those bars, now...

 

[RA92]

Edit: Sorry, wrong place.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Why do I get the feeling that they're trying their best to hide a piss poor casting decision for the titular role of Ender?

 

[RA92]

Edit: Repost

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I don't know what in the world the trailer is trying to show, but that isn't Ender's Game, the book I read had a slow pace, was contemplative, and the only violence that happened to the characters was when the children beat the shit out of (and sometimes killed) each other. They must REALLY be reaching to create exciting action setpieces for the trailers.

I thought it'd be something more akin to Jarhead or Zero Dark Thirty but it seems they want to try to turn it into a generic Sci-Fi movie :/

I think OSC just gave in a bit to at least see it made into a movie. If I remember correctly, the film industry has been pinging away at him for more than a decade to get this movie made. He turned down/away at least four or five different scripts/deals.

The main point of contention between him and the studios was that age of Ender. The first time they approached him, their idea was to make Ender around 17 or 18 years old. Card flat-out said no. They came to him again, and said "than how about 15 or 16", no again from him. After a couple more times they had come down to 8 or 9, and he was about to settle, because he didn't think he could get them to go down anymore, but then said no again because he read some fine print deep down in the pages of the contract that said that if the studio ended up feeling like it couldn't work with the main character being 8 to 9 years old, then they could bump the age up to 13 or 14 during the auditioning process.

In the end, it looks like they got Card to agree to the bad settlement, because that kid looks no younger than twelve.

Lets hope that OSC keeps as far away from it as possible.

Considering how long it took the studios to get this film to be made, even just the okay to get it made, I think your hopes won't work out.

As the article says, he's a producer for it. The movie would never have been made in the first place if it didn't end up getting the go ahead from him, and as I said further above, that took over a decade for him to agree to a deal.

 

[moggett88]

I will probably go to see this - I love the book, and as long as it doesnt go too Michael Bay it shouldnt be awful...although that said, it annoys me that

Spoiler

boobies

Lets hope that OSC keeps as far away from it as possible.

Bugger, shit, damn. I've got so used to people putting videos and random pictures behind "spoiler" bars that I clicked on that without thinking.

Yes, I'd somehow managed to avoid spoiling the ending (OR reading the book 9_9) until now...

Maybe we need to start putting "WARNING: ACTUAL SPOILERS BELOW" before those bars, now...

Or you could, you know, assume that spoiler tags are covering spoilers. Just sayin

 

[moggett88]

Lets hope that OSC keeps as far away from it as possible.

Considering how long it took the studios to get this film to be made, even just the okay to get it made, I think your hopes won't work out.

As the article says, he's a producer for it. The movie would never have been made in the first place if it didn't end up getting the go ahead from him, and as I said further above, that took over a decade for him to agree to a deal.

I didnt really mean away from it in the artistic sense, more like staying silent with regards to the movies public face. Despite his...views, he has artistic skill, and would be an asset during the development of the film. It would just be a shame if the movies image is harmed because some bigot keeps appearing to promote it.

As for what you said about the actor age, I hope the actor they went with just looks older than he is. The fact that the kids are too young is one of the central themes of the book; if they teen it up, it may as well have a Rocky style training montage since it will just be another badass space soldier story.

EDIT: According to IMDB, the actor (Asa Butterfield) is 16 years old. The synopsis just says that he is a "boy", but doesnt give an age for him. It does say that the buggers are now called "formics" though :x And just having a look on Wikipedia for the info, theres a quote from OSC that says the "twist" from the end of the book is provided at the start of the film He says

Spoiler

that Mazer Rackham is introduced straight away, and the audience knows that the kids are really fighting from the get-go. Ender doesnt, which apparently is more interesting :s

I am feeling less excited about this movie the more I hear about it. Also, why does Kingsley have tattoos all over his face?!